In some high-end microcontroller applications, (e.g., industrial, automotive, aeronautical, etc.) many analog signals may be converted to digital form and processed concurrently. For example, in such applications, multiple sensors may provide information about various aspects of complex systems, with the sensors providing analog signals at their output. With evolution in various technologies, an increasing number of analog channels are desired to be converted to a digital form concurrently for processing. In some cases, multiple analog channels may each carry multiple analog signals from multiple sources, for example.
Typically, an increase in the quantity of analog signals to be processed results in the deployment of an increased number of analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) in an application. However, this increase in the number of ADCs increases the amount of area consumed to provide the ADCs for the application, as well as the amount of energy consumed to power them.